The Cost of Beach Erosion and Beach Replenishment

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Recommended: Negative impacts of human activities on coastal areas

Sand Dollars

Abstract

The beach is a main catalyst in attracting individuals to cities and towns along the United States’ shoreline. It is a very valuable natural resource that is diminishing gradually. I provide background information regarding the process of both beach erosion and beach replenishment. Then I analyze two cities that underwent beach nourishment, Miami Beach and Bradley Beach, by comparing the financial aspects of the projects for these Florida and New Jersey beaches. This includes amount of sand needed, area covered, cost of project, and methods of finance. Since Miami Beach completed the nourishment project in the 1980s, there is data regarding the benefits already realized from the project. Payback from Miami Beach is compared to the minimal Bradley Beach data after only one season of replenishment. After the numerical data is laid out, the intangible costs and benefits for Bradley Beach and Miami Beach are described. The paper then moves to a data analysis section, including the cost-benefit analysis. My studytakes into account the two types of costs and benefits, and also discusses the errors in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ methods of cost-benefit analysis. Due to its recent completion and lack of data, I am forced to make predictions in the final section about the future of BradleyBeach’s economic development from beach replenishment. Using similarities and differencesbetween Bradley Beach and the Miami Beach area, I ultimately suggest that Bradley Beach should not have elected to use beach replenishment to control its sand erosion.

Introduction

The ocean is constantly growing. Sea level is predicted to rise more than 15 inches by theyear 20251. The greenhouse effect, or global warming, is res...

... middle of paper ...

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